The most persecuted religious group in the world is… drum roll please

by SB on February 20, 2017 at 4:30pm

In 2016 a Christian was killed for their faith every 6 minutes.

…Nearly 90,000 Christians were killed for their faith in 2016, equivalent to one every six minutes, according to a new study by the Italy-based Center for Studies on New Religions (Censur). The annual study, which is set for release next month, also indicated that between 500 and 600 million Christians were prevented from freely practicing their faith.

…Massimo Introvigne, director of Censur, told Vatican Radio…

“Without wishing to forget or belittle the suffering of members of other religions, Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world,” Introvigne said.

Around 70 percent of the killings occurred in tribal conflicts in Africa, with the high number attributed to Christians refusing to take up weapons for reasons of conscience, Introvigne said. A separate report earlier this year found that a large number of Christian deaths were occurring in northern Nigeria, where the terrorist group Boko Haram operates.

The other 30 percent, according to Introvigne, occurred due to terrorist attacks and government persecution, notably in North Korea. Last year, Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim was sentenced to life in prison in North Korea for what Pyongyang described as “anti-state activities.”
The numbers found in the study were significantly higher than calculated elsewhere because Censur used a broader definition of what constitutes a person being killed for their faith, Introvigne said.

However, the number of Christians and Muslims killed was of a similar number outside of Africa, with the Islamic State terror group responsible not only for killing Christians but large numbers of Muslims, Introvigne added. According to the study, Muslims are generally killed by other Muslims.

While it has long been claimed that Christians are the most persecuted religious group, they are also by far the most populous religious group. There are believed to be 2.2 billion Christians in the world, significantly more than the next highest, Muslims, with an estimated 1.6 billion…

…the mantra that Islam is a religion of peace obviously doesn’t reflect reality. Most Muslims are peaceful… But a still disturbing number use their faith to justify the most hideous violence against truly peaceful and often helpless members of other religions, as well as Muslims who believe differently. Some Muslims obviously interpret their historic faith in a way that threatens the lives and liberties of anyone different than themselves.

Other religions are not innocent. Violence is a tool of some Hindus in India and Buddhists in Burma and Sri Lanka. Yet the brutal episodes are limited and opportunistic if sometimes intense. And religious identification often seems subordinate to ethnic, cultural, and national identities.

Violence by Christians and Jews for religious purposes is essentially ancient history, other than sporadic communal outbreaks in a couple of countries… There are no marauding bands of Christians and Jews kidnapping, shooting, or bombing Muslims (or others) at worship, school, leisure, or elsewhere. Were Christian terrorists to arise and kill Muslims in the West the reaction would be utter shock—which is not the response to Islamist attacks.

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